American Horror Story Apocalypse: The five biggest questions we had after episode three

You can’t accuse American Horror Story: Apocalypse of being boring, that’s for certain. Finally, in episode three, the moment that fans were crying out, praying, and making deals with Satan for arrived to our TV screens. The witches are here, and it feels like the AHS universe will never be the same again.

Though the show has frequently disrupted its anthology format by reintroducing characters or weaving in larger narrative threads (Pepper’s Freak Show years, for example, for Queenie’s Hotel visit), the face-off between Coven’s witches and Murder House’s Michael Langdon is unprecedented in how directly it continues the narratives of both those respective seasons.

We’ll finally get to see Cordelia Goode (Sarah Paulson) in her Supreme years, all while Billie Dean Howard’s prophecy unfurls before our eyes.

It’s fan service, certainly, but that doesn’t mean it’s to American Horror Story’s detriment. A show this wildly, deliciously self-indulgent has the right to play every card in the deck. And that’s exactly what Apocalypse has been doing. And so – here are the five biggest unanswered questions of episode three.

Not to ruin the sanctity of Madison Montgomery (Emma Roberts)’s iconic line by flipping it into a question but, inevitably, the only thing worth talking about this week is the fact that we have, indeed, not seen the last of her. Neither have we seen the last of Cordelia and Myrtle Snow (Frances Conroy).

The trio arrived in the episode’s closing moments; clearly, Cordelia sensed the deaths of several witches during Langdon (Cody Fern)’s orchestrated massacre of the Outpost 3 residents, and rushed to revive them.

Was this done out of a sense of sisterly solidarity or is she seeking witches to stand by her side in what seems like a now-inevitable war with the Antichrist? The latter is more likely, considering Cordelia told Mallory: “We need your help.” And here’s the most serious question at hand: aren’t two of these women supposed to be dead? Myrtle was burnt at the stake, her final words: “Balenciaga!” Madison, meanwhile, was strangled to death by zombie Kyle.

It’s possible they’ve somehow been resurrected in the meantime, especially if Cordelia found need of them in the post-apocalyptic war, but it’s also significant their arrival takes place on Halloween (or, at least, that’s what Venable claimed), the one night of the year in which the dead may freely walk the earth.

Yes, somehow the answer is yes. Cordelia had come to Outpost 3 to “find our sisters”, which revealed all three characters to be witches-in-hiding. That said, Dinah (Adina Porter)’s powers were already subtly revealed earlier on in the episode, during her conversation with Langdon, when she told him: “You know I’m not powerful enough to stop whatever it is you’re up to.”

Furthermore, it’s clear from their conversation that they’d met before the apocalypse, hinting that Langdon might have a larger history with the coven, or with witch society at large. Indeed, Langdon’s powers do suggest he may be, or at least previously thought himself to be, a kind of warlock.

Coco, on the other hand, is either unaware she’s a witch, or she may have been using the “spoiled, rich brat” routine as a cover. It’ll be interesting to see how her taunting of Mallory, basically calling her a nobody, will come into play with this new revelation.

Mallory’s status is a little more confusing. We knew she had powers from her own interaction with Langdon, where she demonstrated powerful pyrokinesis, causing the room to set on fire, but the Antichrist’s reaction to her is strange.

He’s fearful of her and, in his toe-to-toe moment with daddy Satan, he says: “I thought I destroyed them, but one survived.” He’s clearly referencing Mallory, but why does he then state there’s “one” survivor if he’s already aware that Dinah is a witch?

If he doesn’t see Mallory as the last surviving witch, then what kind of survivor is she? Why would Cordelia specifically need Mallory’s help? Is she some kind of mega-powerful, ultra-witch?

A question always worth asking when American Horror Story is on. This is one hard to answer: some of the characters already felt played out (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman’s Andre feels like he existed solely for the “Oh, this stew is Stu!" line), but others still had a little mystery to them.

Langdon’s interest in Mr. Gallant (Evan Peters) was intriguing, but the way he spurred him on to kill Evie (Joan Collins) may only have been an idle game. Which is certainly what his entire plan now seems to have boiled down to: use Mead (Kathy Bates) to convince Venable to poison the entire Outpost, so he can watch their bloody vomit fountain display, then get her to shoot Venable.

The only possible reason for such a complex execution method could be that Langdon can now return to the Co-Operative with the deaths blamed neatly on a corrupt, and spiteful, Venable. That is, if the Co-Operative even exist in the first place. One thing still feels out of place, however.

Are we now meant to believe that Langdon’s entire mission of finding “the seeds from which the future of mankind will blossom” was also a charade? Does he still have an ambition to repopulate the planet, or would he rather live out his days in total isolation, save for his robot companion?

Among the many intriguing (and confusing) reveals of episode three, perhaps the most difficult to unpack is Langdon’s comment that he modeled Mead after the woman who raised him, the only one who “ever really understood me”.

Many fans have assumed this refers to Constance Langdon (Jessica Lange), his grandmother, and while this could very well be true, it doesn’t explain why Mead shares so little in common with her. She’s a humourless, precise, almost militaristic woman; while Constance was a vain, cunning Southern Belle-type.

It also doesn’t explain the fact Mead seems to have memories of being a Mossad agent, of all things, which definitely isn’t applicable to Constance. It is possible Mead could have been the nanny Langdon killed in the final scene of Murder House – she looks vaguely like Kathy Bates in the brief shot we get of her – although Constance calls out the name “Flora” before she discovers her body.

American Horror Story: Apocalypse continues in the US on FX at 10/9c, every Wednesday. In the UK, the season continues on Thursdays at 10pm on FOX